2025 Bears schedule: Chicago's opponents ahead of NFL's official release
The Chicago Bears had the Caleb Williams era off to a strong-looking start. They posted a 4-2 record to open the season and were on the verge of beating the Washington Commanders in a heralded matchup between Williams and the 2024 NFL Draft's No. 2 pick, Jayden Daniels.
However, Daniels reversed Chicago's fate by completing an improbable Hail Mary to allow the Commanders to beat the Bears at the end of regulation. That sent Chicago into a tailspin, during which it lost 10 consecutive games and fired head coach Matt Eberflus and offensive coordinator Shane Waldron.
The Bears are hoping the 2025 NFL season will go smoother with new leadership in place. They landed coveted coaching hire Ben Johnson, who turned the Detroit Lions offense into one of the NFL's best during his three-year stint as the team's offensive coordinator. The franchise is hoping he can even out Chicago's performance.
Johnson spent much of the offseason working with general manager Ryan Poles to rebuild the roster in his image. Notably, Chicago acquired three veteran interior offensive linemen – Joe Thuney, Drew Dalman and Jonah Jackson – to improve Williams' blocking after he was sacked 68 times as a rookie.
The Bears also added pass-catching weapons Colston Loveland and Luther Burden III with their first two picks in the 2025 NFL Draft. That should give Williams plenty of weapons to work with, especially considering the team already had DJ Moore and Rome Odunze at its disposal.
Will that be enough to make the Bears a legitimate playoff team? It's possible, though they have a tough-looking list of opponents for the 2025 NFL season, at least on paper. Below is a look at who Chicago is set to play as the NFL's schedule release approaches.
Bears 2025 opponents
Here's the full list of Bears opponents for 2025:
Home
- Cleveland Browns
- Dallas Cowboys
- Detroit Lions
- Green Bay Packers
- Minnesota Vikings
- New Orleans Saints
- New York Giants
- Pittsburgh Steelers
Road
- Baltimore Ravens
- Cincinnati Bengals
- Detroit Lions
- Green Bay Packers
- Las Vegas Raiders
- Minnesota Vikings
- Philadelphia Eagles
- Washington Commanders
- San Francisco 49ers
Per usual, the Bears will face their NFC East divisional opponents twice in 2025, once on the road and once at home. Additionally, Chicago will play all four teams in the AFC North and NFC East as part of the NFL's rotation schedule.
Chicago's final three opponents – the 49ers, Raiders and Saints – were determined based on the Bears' fourth-place finish in their division last season.
When is the 2025 NFL schedule release?
The NFL is set to reveal its 2025 schedule in full on Wednesday, May 14.
The NFL has turned the schedule release into something of a marquee offseason event. On schedule release day, the league announces the 18-week slate of matchups for all 32 teams in its entirety.
This year's schedule release will be held one day earlier than last year's, which was on May 15. The NFL announced the full 2024 schedule at 8 p.m. ET that night, so fans can expect a similar release time for this year's schedule.